Jacopo Venturini, former Gucci executive has been appointed as Valentino’s new chief executive officer starting  from June.

Venturini will be replacing Stefano Sassi, who has been in charge since 2006, two years before the retirement of its world famous designer Valentino Garavani. Venturini has already worked twice for the Italian brand, first as womenswear and menswear brand manager between 2000-2004 and later as ready-to-wear collection director in 2008, after a three year stint at Prada.

“I’m very happy to return for the third time to Valentino, the Italian Maison which represents my first love affair in fashion. Valentino means heritage and future to me, it will be a pleasure working arm in arm with Pierpaolo.“ Venturini said in a statement.

As an executive vice president of merchandising at Gucci, Venturini played a siginificant role and worked closely with creative director Alessandro Michele and his team. In 2018 product and markets were brought together into one single responsibility under him and he left Kering in October 2019.